Channel Challenge Packs Them In
The Age
Friday September 3, 1993
Mustafa, the legless Egyptian, was there last Tuesday morning. So was Ted, the 58-year-old Irishman, who recently underwent a heart-bypass operation. Hugo, the Mexican lawyer, rolled up with his psychologist, whose normal work is preparing the terminally ill for death.
Swimming the English Channel, it seems, is no longer the preserve of the sound of limb. It has probably never been the preserve of the sound of mind.
Mustafa, Ted and Hugo lathered themselves with lanolin and petroleum jelly, waved to the small group of onlookers and slipped into the murky, grey sea. Support boats, full of food, blankets and heart- respiratory gear, chugged alongside. More English summer madness.
The 21 nautical miles between the English port of Dover and Cap Gris Nez, south-west of Calais in France, has had a hypnotic effect on swimmers ever since Captain Webb swam it on 25August 1875, taking 21 hours 45 minutes.
Since then, 4317 people have attempted the Channel. A paltry 423 have made it _ a success ratio of less than one in 10. Eighteen people have done two crossings, one after the other, and three have done three in a row. The fastest crossing was done by Californian Penny Lee Dean, in a slippery seven hours, 40 minutes.
Perhaps the most remarkable statistic is that only three people have died trying. The water, as cold as 13 degrees in midsummer, can produce hypothermia, and up to 500 ships plough through the waters each day. The tides can sweep swimmers up and down the Channel, the waves can induce seasickness and other obstacles are the seaweed and jellyfish.
Ray Scott, secretary of the Folkestone-based Channel Swimming Association, says today's swimmers have close to a 50-50 chance of success. ``Swimmers are training better, their techniques have improved and the boat pilots know the course, the wind and the tides better," he says.
Despite Scott's commitment to Channel-swimming, he says the sport is unlikely to improve its appeal to the general public. ``It takes more skill to swim the Channel than to kick a bladder full of air into a net, but Channel swimming will never be huge .
And what became of Mustafa? Before setting off on Tuesday, pursued by an Egyptian film crew working for peak-time Cairo TV, he said: ``I want to say to people that there is nothing impossible in life, especially if you are disabled." He swam for nearly 11 hours in rough seas and force-six winds before calling it a day.
© 1993 The Age